We are applying for funds to purchase an AxioImager Z1 research microscope from Carl Zeiss to replace our Zeiss fluorescence Axioplan microscope, which has been heavily used for the past fifteen or so years by a large number of users, that is showing considerable wear and tear, and for which replacement parts and lenses are no longer available. The proposed microscope will be used by a group of 8 users who are all faculty within the Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, each with faculty appointments at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The purchase of this microscope will support these investigators'R01, P01, K awards and nonfederal grants and will be crucial for the continued research progress and productivity of these grants. The projects that will utilize the proposed microscope are broad in scope, ranging from animal models for neonatal hypoxic ischemia, Sturge Weber Syndrome and other developmental disorders, such as Rett Syndrome, autism, adrenoleucodystrophy and other metabolic disorders, to brain cancer. The projects require sophisticated and high resolution optics and image analysis that the proposed microscope and accompanying software will provide. Award of this instrument will have a positive impact on the productivity of the projects. The microscope will be housed within a Histology and Imaging Core that is funded by an Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Resource Center (IDDRC) (formerly MRDDRC) at Kennedy Krieger Institute, and provides support for training and maintenance for the microscopes within it. This will enhance the productivity of the undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff and faculty that utilize this IDDRC Core. In turn, this will advance the mission of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, which is to understand the biological basis for developmental disabilities, and to discover new treatments for enhancing the lives and potential of the children who are treated here.